Cool Cat Teacher Blog is at coolcatteacher.com

The US Presidential Election Can Be Taught: But How? From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter The fifteen thousand pound Statue of Freedom placed upon the US Capitol Building is dressed to defend her country. Oddly enough, she does not wear the red liberty cap, originally worn by freed Roman slaves, which was given to the French and Americans fighting in the Revolutionary Instead, she wears a helmet, ready to defend her land. During my summer in DC, I would squint into the bright light and try to see the Statue of Freedom a little more clearly. That summer, she captured me. Tears would stream down my face as the bright summer sun blazed into my eyes. Listen to this show on  BAM Radio Network | iTunes   To me, she shines for our liberty. Our rights. But we must never forget the difference in having the   right  to do something and being  right in doing it. We have lots of rights. But, does it feel like to you that...

Help for skeptical or curious teachers From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter The curious teacher opened up Twitter. In the teacher’s lounge this morning, an excited teacher was talking about a new tool she’d found on Twitter that had her students raving. Rather than ask anyone, the curious teacher opened up Twitter (there was less pressure that way .) Oh, my! She thought Twitter made no sense. She saw these #’s going by and didn’t know what they were. And she saw some things she didn’t like, too. As a result, she wondered if she could filter that stuff out. What was that teacher so excited about this morning? If you’re that curious teacher, let’s give you tips to make sense of Twitter. This example with “curious teacher” is a common one. In fact, many teachers look at Twitter and just don’t get what they’re seeing. I would say it is because they don’t have a Twitter account. While lurking on the site is OK, creating a Twitter acco...

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter You’re teaching your heart out. All of a sudden, you look in their eyes and wonder if they understand. But in due time, you decide enough of them know the material and it is time for a test. After they take the test, you start grading. In a moment, you realize that while one or two know the material, that you were hopelessly unaware that most of them needed some more teaching. I’ve been there and it is one of the worst feelings of teaching. When it happened to me, I felt like quitting. I felt like a failure. But no more. Now, when I teach difficult concepts like binary numbers, I can teach them and know in the moment what they know. No more waiting. No more guessing. That’s because, formative assessment is in my toolkit and I’m empowered to poll the whole class with a click. As shown above, we can do better than the old fashioned guess and stress mode of teaching and testing. Formative assessment is ...

Note: G Suite is the new name for Google Drive From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter If you only used 15 tools in Google Docs and Apps, what would they be? Don’t be overwhelmed with all the choices.  I can help. In this free masterclass, I’m going to share my 15 Best G suite tools for Schools  and how to use them in the classroom. Join me on October 25 at 4pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time(EDT). You’re invited . Register Now! (It’s free.) Back when Google Add-ons came out, I wrote my 15 Best Google Add-ons for Education . So, when one of the original add-on makers that I mentioned in the first article (Texthelp – now called Read&Write ) reached out, I told them I’d love to update the list. We’ll make the announcement live in the webinar of my favorite 15 G Suite Tools for Schools! Fun! This will be a one-time-only webinar. I won’t be selling this one in any of my stores. You get one chance. You’ll want to come. You can...

A Big Thank You to Staples for their Support of Teachers and Students From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter Almost one hundred thousand students (98,609 to be exact) were impacted by the $1 million donation that Staples made to DonorsChoose.org this past June. As I blogged this past June, Staples partnered with Katy Perry to help classrooms across the country. They made a one million dollar donation this past April and have been giving it away since then! It is now time for an update on what happened! See the full press release Here are the results: 1,072 classroom projects funded 787 teachers in 402 schools 98,600 students $1 million donation from Staples In addition to this, Staples customers donated more than $330,000 to DonorsChoose.org in-store and at StaplesforStudents.com . (These numbers don’t even include all the Staples and DonorsChoose.org cards we gave away on our Back to School Twitter chat in August.) Katy Perry Sc...

Five stories to help us remember some important things about working with children From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter Jasmine walked into the room with her feet shuffling. At this instant, she was tired. In addition to cross country, she’d been going to cheer practice and One Act Play. Furthermore, it was also the end of the first grading period and all of her teachers wanted everything YESTERDAY. Last week, her team was eliminated from the state softball playoff and Jasmine was still upset about several plays where she knew she didn’t do her best. On top of that, one of her favorite teachers just died of cancer and the funeral was on Monday. Tired and heart-weary, Jasmine walks into my room and says, “Mrs. Vicki, I’ve never asked this before, but all I want to do for about 10 minutes is just put my head down for a moment.” In fact, Jasmine is a compilation of several students I know right now but this really did happen. Fortunately,...

Creative Literacy Lessons with Kids From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter Therapy dogs. Lunch bunch. Reading groups. These are just of a few ideas you can use to excite students about reading and writing. Writing can be fun. So can reading. Let’s discuss lots of creative ideas that work. In today’s show, librarian Margo Janzi has a wealth of ideas. Additionally, she also talks about getting out of her comfort zone. Not only can you use robots, green screens, and iPads to excite kids, but you can use some more traditional ideas in new ways. Remember that there’s no match for the creative librarian and teacher. In conclusion, it is our job to inspire and encourage reading and writing. This inspiring show will get you started. Listen to this show on: BAM Radio Network | iTunes   Today’s Sponsor: Write the World Write the World is a fantastic free tool to encourage writing in your classroom. Not only can teachers run writing con...

A Candid Conversation with Jon Bergmann From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter Make videos for students. They can watch them in class or for homework. Then, spend your time in class helping students. Reduce or almost eliminate lecture . Students can stop and start the videos as they wish. They go at their own pace . You help those who need it. Flipping your classroom (or in-flipping it as I do) can make a lot of sense if your conditions are right. Flipped classroom co-founder Jon Bergmann talks candidly about the flipped classroom model. Prepare for criticisms. Understand challenges. Learn from the mistakes others have made. I love using videos to teach the point and click software lessons in my classroom. Whether you’re advanced or a beginner, this conversation brings you to the leading edge of instructional design. Listen to this show on: BAM Radio Network | iTunes   Today’s Sponsor: My Simple Show Need a quick explainer vide...